President Xi Jinping will set off on a tour of three Southeast Asian countries next week as Beijing urgently seeks to strengthen ties with its neighbours amid an intensifying tariff war with Washington.
Confirming an earlier report by the Post, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday that Xi would visit Vietnam on Monday, followed by Malaysia and Cambodia from Tuesday to Friday.
The Southeast Asian tour will mark Xi’s first foreign visits of the year and comes as Beijing faces pressure to strengthen ties with neighbouring countries amid escalating tensions with Washington over US President Donald Trump’s sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs.
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While China has vowed to fight Trump’s tariffs, economic ministers from countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on Thursday said they would not impose retaliatory measures and would instead seek to engage in “frank and constructive” dialogue with the US.
The trip also comes as China seeks to present itself as a credible partner to Southeast Asia, where anxieties are growing over Washington’s commitment to the region.
Earlier this week, Xi made clear China’s desire to strengthen strategic bonds with countries in the region at a high-profile central government meeting on neighbourhood diplomacy.
According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, the conference pledged to strengthen mutual trust with neighbouring countries and called for more industrial and supply chain cooperation.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration increased the tariff rate on Chinese goods to 125 per cent – later clarified as a push to a record 145 per cent. Beijing announced its own set of retaliatory measures and has vowed to fight the trade war “to the end”.
Southeast Asia is also a target of Trump’s tariffs. Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia each faced hefty duties of 49 per cent, 46 per cent, and 24 per cent, respectively in the “reciprocal” rates before they were paused for 90 days – although the baseline 10 per cent on goods from all US trading partners remain in effect.
Analysts earlier suggested that developing economies, including those in Southeast Asia, could face growing pressure to take Washington’s side as countries negotiate tariff relief with the Trump administration.
So far, Vietnam has been quick to offer to remove all tariffs on US imports. Thailand and Indonesia said they would send high-level delegations to the US for trade talks.
Thomas Daniel, senior fellow at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia, said the Chinese leader would seek to reinforce Beijing’s already influential reach in the three countries on his tour, all of which had been hit hard by Trump’s tariffs.
“China’s response to the tariffs, especially on the value of its currency and exports, could either alleviate or aggravate the predicaments of Southeast Asia, and a display of genuine magnanimity will go a long way for Beijing,” he said.
Daniel said Xi would also be looking for “overt signals of support” from the region as China faced a protracted trade war with the US, though leaders in Vietnam and Malaysia might be cautious as they sought to mitigate the tariffs through talks with Washington.
He added that Xi’s Southeast Asia tour presented an opportunity for Beijing, as long as it knew “how to leverage it”.
China has strong trade ties with Southeast Asia. But it also has a series of long-standing territorial disputes with several countries in the region over claims in the South China Sea.
Beijing claims most of the islands and reefs in the resource-rich waterway, as well as rights over their adjacent waters. This has been a source of tension with other claimants, including Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Xi Jinping vows to boost strategic ties with neighbours as trade war escalates
- Could Trump tariffs open window of opportunity for China to improve ties with Vietnam?
- China woos the neighbours, with Xi Jinping said to be planning 3-country tour in April
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